Make sure the milk or cream you add to your potatoes is HOT. This helps it absorb better so you don't feel the need to overmix.
Do not add cold milk or cream to the pot of piping hot potatoes. Not only will this cool the dish down, but the cold liquid will not absorb into the hot potatoes very well. Warm the liquid in a saucepan on the stovetop or in a glass measuring cup in the microwave.
Tips for the Best Mashed Potatoes
Start cooking the potatoes in cold water: This ensures that the potatoes cook evenly. Otherwise, if you start with hot or boiling water, the outsides of the potatoes cook and soften while the middles are still hard and crunchy.
Although they seem straightforward, following a few key tips will ensure mashed potato success. Always start cooking potatoes in cold water and mash them while still warm.
The Mistake: Cutting Potatoes Into Too-Small Pieces
They'll absorb too much water during cooking, preventing them from soaking up all the yummy butter and cream when it comes time for mashing. The best-size chunks for boiling: about 1 1/2 inches.
Here's how to do it: For every pound of potatoes in your mash, drizzle 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the dish and fold it gently into the potatoes. If the mash is still too gluey for your liking, repeat the process with another tablespoon of butter. It's that easy!
Add 1/2 cup of the butter, hot milk, sour cream, and salt to taste; mash thoroughly with a potato masher until very creamy. If using garlic, melt the butter with the garlic to infuse the flavor before adding the mixture to the potatoes. Remove the mashed potatoes and place them in a serving dish.
Restaurants prepare the potatoes ahead by boiling and mashing just the potato, then just before serving, it is mixed into boiling cream (or milk or even broth or a combination thereof) to reheat it and make it nice and creamy.
For the very best result every time, always gently warm the butter and milk before adding to the potatoes, rather than adding cold dairy straight from the fridge. Here's why: Warm dairy is absorbed faster and more easily, with less stirring than its cold counterpart.
Do NOT add cold liquid. Make sure the milk or cream you add to your potatoes is HOT. This helps it absorb better so you don't feel the need to overmix. Overmixing is bad.
No. You don't need to soak potatoes before making them into mashed potatoes.
Doing so is a science thing – soaking cut potatoes removes excess potato starch. This means fluffy mashed potatoes (and not gluey!)
Curdling happens when you quickly add cold milk to hot soup, like sopas. Milk curdling is usually a sign that something has gone wrong in the kitchen. Sometimes, it signals that the milk is past its expiration.
Butter helps make the starchy texture of potatoes richer and eliminates that "cling" some potatoes get when they're freshly mashed. You shouldn't let butter be the only dairy you use, however.
We consider Yukon Gold potatoes the best choice for classic dense mashed potatoes. Their rich texture and subtle creaminess make them great for all of your mashing needs.
Soupy, watery mashed potatoes usually happen because the cooked potatoes were cut into pieces that were too small, weren't drained well enough, or were overcooked. Fix them: Scoop the watery mashed potatoes into a pan and stir constantly over low heat to evaporate the excess liquid.
Dry mashed potatoes don't contain enough fat
And, according to Food Republic, mashed potatoes do not take well to "light" preparations. If you skimp on the butter and cream, the side dish will suffer as a result, turning out unappealingly dry.
Put them in a deep casserole or soufflé dish — even a Dutch oven will do — and store in the fridge overnight. Warm them up in the oven the next day, uncovered, with a little butter on top. The extra moisture will evaporate and you'll have creamy potatoes.
Use a Thickening Agent – Thickening agents such as corn starch or flour are super effective in, you guessed it, thickening recipes. I recommend corn starch when thickening mashed potatoes as it does very little to affect the taste of your side dish.
Cream of Tartar – makes mashed potatoes smooth and fluffy and helps achieve almost a meringue-like consistency. Salt and Pepper – to taste.
The yolk emulsifies water and fat to create a cohesive, velvety bite, while providing a little fat and body of its own. What is this? You can add an egg yolk to nearly any existing mashed potato recipe.
Just a pinch of baking soda is all you need to create mashed potatoes as soft as clouds. When you add baking soda, it reacts with the heat of the dish and the acid in the milk or cream to create small air pockets throughout the mash. These air bubbles translate to light and airy bites. Yum!